Fortune on the four of coins, an emblem that appears on the decks of the engraver Francois Isnard [or of those of some who copied from him] -- an engraver who appears connected with both our earliest appearnce of the TdB and of french suited animal tarots --

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Francois Isnard, 1695 - 1765, moved from Provence to Strasbourg in 1715 and married there in 1716 - he was father-in-law of the cardmaker Francoise Bouchard, for whom he engraved molds for playing cards, including a french suited animal tarot mold, and in whose house he died in 1765 --

The master cardmaker David Benoist of Strasboug and his wife were Godfather and Godmother for two of his children, born in 1723 and 1725-

From 1728 his initials begin to appear on several prints- according to BnF all active cardmakers of strasbourg used his molds between 1730 - 1760 (and continued to be used by some for much longer, as per the Benoist, Carey and Sarraman examples we have) -- here is the chariot from a Francois Isnard deck, with his initials of the shield:

Strasbourg based cardmakers who used this style of FI's molds would stamp their name on the two of coins, for example here is a reproduction of a Benois deck by il Meneghello, and L Carey [c1795] from a copy at the British Museum:

In Mellet's essay on tarot, the tarot he describes is clearly a Tarot de Besancon type, however with his description of the four of coins I think we can further than that and identify the deck he used as a Francois Isnard -- here is a selection of cards from the British Museums 'FI" [Francoise Isnard] deck, which relate to the description of Mellet:

A Benois was identified by @ Evalyne Hall as probable deck used by Mellet during her research while translating the essays of Gebelin and Mellet, and a Benois is certainly a strong possibility, but other cardmakers of the time also used the molds of FI, so the only thing we can say with certainty I think is that is was an Isnard engraved deck --

A selection of cards from a B Sarramon/F Isnard deck, from a copy at the National Library of France, with cartomantic notes:

[ According to Depaulis [IPCS 39/2, p. 64-79] FI engraved very similar animal tarots for the German cardmakers J W Weber of Ulm, and Chaso and Henrion - datable to the 1740s, c1745 - Making FI's the earliest of the french suited tarot decks we currently know of -- the Strasbourg cardmaker Jantet [1759-1776] also produced an animal tarot engraved by Isnard --]

Do we have a family tree of the Benoit/Benois/Benoist, cardmakers of Strasbourg with approximate dates of their activity? I have conflicting dates for the J-B Benois I would like to clear up, some say it is 1720 rather than late 18th century!? Il Meneghello late 17th century (which is impossible, the engraver Isnard would have been under 5 years of age at the end of the 17th century) - according to Depaulis the earliest reference to a Benoist cardmaker in Strasbourg is for a David Benoist (1717-1761) --

Francois Isnard was the father of Pierre-François Isnard, reputed inventor of the 'little soldiers' of Strasbourg - I What is the relationship, if any, to Pierre Isnard, engraver of the F Laudier of Strasbourg cards 1746?

SteveM

Francois Isnard chose master cardmaker David Benoist and his wife as Godfather and Godmother of his two children born in 1923 and 1925 - so may we presume that Isnard was engraving his molds for the Benoists, as well as other cardmakers, at this early period?

According to the same source, FI died in 1765 at the home of his son-in-law, the master cardmaker Bouchard:

1785 Francisco Fournier went to live to Burgos due to the revolution which was happening in France. He was French, and all his family worked as printers. When he went to live to Burgos, he married a wealthy Spanish woman called Maria de Reoyo. They had a children called Lazaro Fournier. Lazaro married another Spanish woman called Paula González. They had four children. The youngest was born on 2 March 1849 and he was called Heraclio Fournier.

Pope and and Popess are changed to seasons. According Depaulis this deck type might have preceded the Tarot Besancon. Laboisse (above mentioned for 1718) was important in relation to this deck.
It's interesting, that he had a helping hand from a man of Marseille, which is the mentioned Fournier.

Pope and and Popess are changed to seasons. According Depaulis this deck type might have preceded the Tarot Besancon. Laboisse (above mentioned for 1718) was important in relation to this deck.
It's interesting, that he had a helping hand from a man of Marseille, which is the mentioned Fournier.

So the deck is NOT from the early period, but Depaulis had found a similar to one of the seasons , which was made in the first decade of 18th century, as far I remember.

La Boisse (Laboisse), originally from Paris, is the earliest I know in connection with this style of TdB with spring and winter instead of the JJ - some have noted the similarity between some TdB and the noblet, another Parisien, of interest also in the the initial IN appear on the chariot shield of the La Boise -- an early TdB type, but with spring and winter instead of Juno and Jupiter --

A partial deck of Blanck & Tschann is at the BnF, which is the same one as on Kevin Meurnier blog I think, with its handwritten Etteilla numbers (Etteilla himself does mention a deck 'of recent times' from Colmar that replaces Popesse and Pope with Spring and Winter) - there is a partial deck of the La Boisse at the BM, which B&T is clearly modeled upon --

Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. T. S. Eliot

La Boisse (Laboisse), originally from Paris, is the earliest I know in connection with this style of TdB with spring and winter instead of the JJ - some have noted the similarity between some TdB and the noblet, another Parisien, of interest also in the the initial IN appear on the chariot shield in the Louis La Boise --

"Louis de La Boisse, a la Perle Orientale a Strasbourg"

The Oriental Pearl motif on the four of coins is related to the cardmakers address, as on the two of cups:

Here also the Oriental Pearl motif on four of coins copied by Jean Henry Blanck active in Colmar from 1775 to 1792. in association with his son-in-law Stephane Amand Tschann, from the canton of Solothurn (Switzerland) from 1775, under the name "Blanck & Tschann & Comp.

The "Blanck & Tschann" at the Bnf is copied after the cardmaker La Boise of which we have a partial example at the BM - it represents a curious version of the TdB, replacing the Popesse and Pope with Spring and Winter, instead of Juno and Jupiter --- both unfortunately are incomplete, but there are some cards in one that are not in the other --

La Boise was admitted to the Parisian guild of cardmakers in 1683 - his father, Louise la Boisse the elder was also a cardmaker -
[One may see that a Louis de la Boisse is listed as a Parisian cardmaker in the thread "Fait a par Paris"]

La Boisse Junior moved to Strasbourg in 1705 and became a citizen in 1708 and died in 1748.

As well as the entries noted in above thread In the logs of the guild "To Steltz"(1717 & 1718), there are others from March 16th, 1734 and from the 25th
January 1737 with entries about journeymen who worked for him, according to the Daniel Schulz catalogue linked to below.

Another wrapper, with the Griffins and Pearl motif, of the Stuttgart based cardmaker P.C. Thime c1740-1760, of Fine French Cards:

Peter Christoph Thime, born in 1707, was a cardmaker in Ludwigsburg and died on 11 November 1772 at the age of 65 years. Both of the above wrappers were found with other playing card remnants in the debris of scrap found at Ludwigsburg Castle and can be found together with a description and images of other remnants in a report by Daniel Schulz online here:

As La Boise was originally a member of the Paris guild of cardmakers, one is led back to considering how many elements of the TdB are so similar to that other Paris based cardmaker, Jean Noblet --

The oriental pearl motif seems to have originated with La Boisse c1710, it being a reference to his Strasbourg address, and was simply copied by following cardmakers such as Claude Truc of Grenoble c1717-1731, Thime of Stuttgart c1740-1760,and Blanck & Tschann of Colmar post 1775 -- :
[image source: BnF]

Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. T. S. Eliot

To access "Ask Alexander" you have to belong to the IPCS (or some other affiliated association) and do it through their website. It costs $16 a year to belong, with current issues of the "Playing Card" available as pdf's.

SteveM wrote:
Here also the Oriental Pearl motif on four of coins copied by Jean Henry Blanck active in Colmar from 1775 to 1792. in association with his son-in-law Stephane Amand Tschann, from the canton of Solothurn (Switzerland) from 1775, under the name "Blanck & Tschann & Comp.

The "48" on the 2 of cups and the "74" on the 4 of Coins correspond precisely to Etteilla's number for that card. Earlier you speculated that the handwriting on the 4 of Coins might be Etteilla's due to the "74' on the card. But why are these same numbers on different cards? Did he get his numbering system from these cards, or are these all his cards? We know that Etteilla spent time in Strasbourg. around this time.

1777-c.1780. Etteilla is in Strasbourg, settling as a “print-seller and bachelor, from Paris, legitimate son of Jean-Baptiste Alliette, burgess and caterer from there, and of Marie-Anne nee Bautray,” according to citizenship records there (he became a citizen of the city). He joins the guild for printers, print sellers, cardmakers, and book-binders. The guild record for 1781 lists him in “guild members no longer resident.” Etteilla himself verifies his stay in Strasbourg in a 1785 comment, saying that “when in Strasbourg, I was pleased to fix M. Cerbere’s youngest son’s birth chart” (DDD p. 82). He says that the best tarot cards are made there. But he objects to the cardmaker Jean-Baptiste Benoit’s removal of the “butterfly” on the “hieroglyph called the Star.” (Kaplan, vol. 2, reproduces the “Benois” deck, whose Star card has no winged creature. It is one of those decks that have replaced the Pope and has Benois producing in Strasbourg starting in 1780.)

I didn't see a Star card in the Gallica link for this deck. There is one for the one with cartomantic notes, the Sarramon, at http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b1 ... 23.highres. Indeed no "butterfly". I wonder if that is consistent, or if one actually has a "butterfly".

The "48" on the 2 of cups and the "74" on the 4 of Coins correspond precisely to Etteilla's number for that card. Earlier you speculated that the handwriting on the 4 of Coins might be Etteilla's due to the "74' on the card. But why are these same numbers on different cards?

I didn't meant to suggest the handwriting was Etteilla's, only that he was aware of a deck from Colmar with spring and winter, he mentions it along with other cardmakers such as Tourcaty and Benoit -

Not sure what you mean by "why are these same number on different cards?" Which cards have the same numbers?

I haven't checked the numbers of every card to see how they correspond, but enough to suggest the writer was familiar with the work of Etteila -- 17 is death, 78 the fool, he has made the lovers 13 the card of marriage instead of the Pope, maybe that has something to do with the replacement of the pope by winter?

1777-c.1780. --- The guild record for 1781 lists him in “guild members no longer resident.” Etteilla himself verifies his stay in Strasbourg in a 1785 comment, saying that “when in Strasbourg, I was pleased to fix M. Cerbere’s youngest son’s birth chart” (DDD p. 82). He says that the best tarot cards are made there. But he objects to the cardmaker Jean-Baptiste Benoit’s removal of the “butterfly” on the “hieroglyph called the Star.”

Does Etteilla actually refer to "Jean Baptiste" Benoit or just "Benoit" ? What are the dates of activity for J-B? I have c1791 to 1820, if Etteilla mentions J-B specifically that would take it back a little earlier -- I've been trying to track down the original french text to confirm --

If I recall right he mentions something about Benoit's 'nuremburg' blockmaker altering his father's old blocks - Benoit's old blocks would have been Isnards [from Provence], going from the examples we have (those by J-B; and of J Benoist which was altered 'a la mode revolutionaire', the same altered block being used also by L Carey -- it is this altered block 'a la mode revolutionaire' that Jerger probably took as a model (copying from the deck of either Carey or J Benoist) - this altered block of course is too late to be the one intended by Etteilla --

The other examples I've seen of Isnard shows neither a butterfly nor a bird - the bird is part of the Tarot de Marseille pattern rather than the TdB, it likely was never on a Benoit old block to be removed -- perhaps Etteilla mistook the bird of the Tarot de Marseille for a butterfly, his perception of it influenced by Gebelin* (who was using a Tarot de Marseille, unlike Mettlet who was using a TdB)?

In some the lines with vague 'out of line' colouring I think could indeed be seen as a butterfly, here an example from JMD in a ATF thread on the subject:

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SteveM

*
XVII. The Dog Star.

Here we have under our eyes a card no less allegorical, & absolutely Egyptian; it is entitled the Star. Indeed, one can see there a brilliant star surrounded by seven smaller stars. A woman bending on one knee who holds two vases upside down and from which two rivers run occupies the bottom of the card. Next to this woman is a butterfly on a flower.